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Video: Retirement Savings Withdrawal Strategies - DFSIN - SFL

Video: Retirement Savings Withdrawal Strategies

When you retire, you move from a stage of life where you are accumulating assets to a stage where you are drawing on them.

May 14, 2018

​In fact, by the end of the year of your 71st birthday, you are required to close any registered retirement savings account and choose one or more withdrawal plans. There are two main categories: annuities and the registered retirement income fund or life income fund.

Video: Retirement savings withdrawal strategies 

When you retire, you move from a stage of life where you are accumulating assets to a stage where you are drawing on them.

In fact, by the end of the year of your 71st birthday, you are required to close any registered retirement savings account and choose one or more withdrawal plans. 

There are two main categories: annuities, on one hand, and on the other, the registered retirement income fund or life income fund. 

An annuity is a contract with an insurance company that guarantees you an annual income often paid regularly throughout the year in exchange for a lump sum deposit. If the lump sum comes from registered savings the regular payments are taxed as income.

In the case of RRIFs and LIFs, you can still manage your assets and they remain sheltered from taxes while in the plan but you are required to make minimum withdrawals every year, which are taxable. LIFs are subject to annual withdrawal maximums as well and are also considered taxable income.

So, once you reach your sixties, you may find it worthwhile to begin giving thought to the details of your withdrawal strategy. When the time comes, you’ll know when to draw down which assets, and which type of account to use, in order to optimize your net income throughout your retirement.

To develop your withdrawal strategy, talk to your financial security advisor or mutual fund representative

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